


Summer Suffering

by Grau



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, FTM Tony, MtF Darcy, NB Jane, Nonbinary Character, Other, Trans Character, focus on darcy, its mostly me complaining about summer, takes place before AOU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 05:11:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4693289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grau/pseuds/Grau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hot. It's sticky. It's frozen yogurt in summer. </p>
<p>The Stark Tower has shitty air conditioning but food makes everything better. Pure, lazy fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Suffering

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asimplewalk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asimplewalk/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I am agender, so if you feel what I have written about my trans binary characters is in any way inaccurate or offensive, please let me know.

If Darcy could sue the weather, she would’ve done so long ago. This heat alone was violating at least five different kinds of human rights, on top of annoying the hell out of her. She hadn’t even known it was possible to sweat in so many different places at once. The ventilator only did so much, and after standing in front of it for a good twenty minutes it did little more than blowing slightly less hot air around her. 

“Ugh”, she whined and turned to her ventilator buddy, “can’t you invent the heat away?” After having spent five of the twenty minutes fighting for the best spot in front of the whirring machine, the two of them had formed a frail truce. Genius Billionaire Tony Stark wiped some sweat off his forehead and lifted his tired arm to point at the machine.   
They looked at each other, stared for a second and sighed deeply. Tony nudged her arm. “Change.” Darcy groaned and slowly shuffled around him, so that he could take her place – the prime spot. At the edge of the ventilator’s reach the heat got even more unbearable, as if one half of her body was melting away. “The human body is constantly burning”, she muttered quietly and let her arms hang freely. 

Behind them, a little off to the sides and effectively blocked from the little extra air conditioning they had available, Bruce was hunched over at his desk, tapping the Enter key every now and then. He had left the kids to play with the magic wind machine after placing a lazy, sweaty kiss on Darcy’s warm shoulder. It was no use trying to get between the two. 

“How come there is so little quality in air conditioning in a building as advanced as yours?” Bruce turned in his chair just enough to be able to see Tony in the corner of his eye. He noticed a smudge on his glasses, but lifting his arms to take it off and clean it would’ve been far too tiring. “And don’t say it’s because of-“ 

“Alien attack.” Tony shrugged, barely visible. “It’s a work in progress.”

“Mhm.” Bruce softly shook his head and turned back to his work. It was far too hot to get anything done, but doing nothing was even worse. He hit the Enter key again. The keys were warm, and he could see sweaty stains covering the ones he had hit repeatedly. 

Still, having lived in various parts of the world with wildly different climate than the US, Bruce was the one who took the heat the best. He was still wearing both shorts and a proper shirt, after all – unlike Tony, who was sporting a loose shirt a few sizes too big, nearly swallowing the man. The opaque fabric danced in the wind whenever the ventilator moved. 

Darcy wished she had that much (hard earned) confidence. She had suffered the whole way until the tower, wearing a huge, baggy jacket that while covering her up good was meant to be worn in the coldest winter and made every step hell. Shedding out of it had felt like a second birth, and now she relished in letting her dress flow in the wind with Tony’s shirt. 

Being trans in summer was pure suffering, Darcy was sure. 

She was about to nudge Tony’s arm to get him to trade places again as the automatic door slid open and brought in a swell of fresh, cool air. And with it came three figures that had left the tower earlier today, three who have dared to venture deeper into the hot asphalt jungle, leaving behind any comfort or hospitality. 

“We brought food”, Jane declared and held up a big, plastic wrapped watermelon, price tag still taped to its side. Pepper was carrying another two under each of her arms. They looked smaller, but just as delicious. Next two both of them came Thor, who ditched the armor and cape for a more manageable T-shirt and jeans combination and didn’t seem to notice the heat at all. Even though he carried the bulk of the various other things they had bought, not a single drop of sweat ran down his skin. 

“I have the frozen yogurt!”, he proclaimed proudly and held up a cardboard tray. 

“Thank god.” Darcy turned around and hurried towards him, snatching the palate out of his hand and taking in the cold the cups were emitting. Tony reluctantly left his place in the wind to greet Pepper with a smooch on the cheek, and to take one of the melons in his arms. He pressed the cool fruit against his chest and sighed in relief. 

Bruce watched everything happen, from Tony and Pepper talking about the repair they still needed to have done and possible lawsuits against Aliens invading earth, to Jane telling Thor to watch their watermelon while they’d get a big enough knife from the nearest kitchen, but he didn’t move until Darcy set down the Frozen Yogurt on an overturned box near the center of the cluttered room. 

He slouched off his chair and trudged towards the FroYo, linking sticky hands with Darcy as soon as he arrived. “Which one is mine?”

“Take whichever you like”, Jane replied absent-mindedly as she returned with the sharpest knife she could find. Thor followed them closely, the watermelon in one hand and a provisionary desk in the other. They set up right next to the yogurt box. 

Bruce did as he was told, but before he had the chance to look at each one and make a reasonable decision, Darcy was already face first into the one that was closest to her. When she looked up and smiled brightly, she had some strawberry sauce and yogurt stuck on her lips – Bruce smiled bemused and, after getting her attention, wiped it away with his thumb. 

She kissed it softly, then gave her full attention to the icy refreshment in her hands. Bruce quickly grabbed one with raspberries and honey, before Thor made his choice. Pepper and Tony, still holding their watermelons, were standing a bit to the side, captivated in a discussion. 

After having successfully halved, then quartered and finally sliced the watermelon in an appropriate amount of pieces Jane put the knife aside and eyed their work critically. Some had come out wobblier than intended, but such was nature. They took an end piece and nibbled away. Thor held two large pieces, one in each hand. Neither of them was very concerned with the fruit juice running down their faces and hands – Sticky, but refreshing. 

They ate in relative silence, except for pleased sighs and small talk cut short by the incredible amount of effort talking required. Tony and Pepper, still in their corner, were the exception to this rule – being around Pepper had brought the life back into the entrepreneur, who was drawing on the watermelon’s skin with a sharpie pen to demonstrate a new idea he had regarding layout and structure of the tower – to make it more Alien proof. And cooler. 

Jane and Thor went to wash their hands; Darcy wiped hers on Bruce’s pants. He just sighed and did the same. At least now, he didn’t have to move too much, and the stains would dry out sooner than was right in this desert heat. 

When the dynamic duo came back after way longer than it took to wash your hands, they both had a change of clothes (which sounded heavenly to Darcy) and slightly damp hair, probably from the shower (which sounded even better). Jane had also wriggled out of their binder – with help from Thor, Darcy assumed and grinned brightly. She had heard those things were hellish to get out of, and she believed that in a heartbeat. 

Before taking one of the untouched FroYo’s meant for Pepper and Tony, Darcy took a moment to look around the room, feel Bruce’s presence right next to her and everyone else’s too, and really take in how far she had come. From seeking out internships that would get her as far away from home as possible to actually feeling comfortable in a room filled with people who all knew – and even shared aspects of her experiences. 

If anyone told her any of what had happened these past years would happen to her, she wouldn’t have believed a word. Not only the whole superhero, Alien, Stark thing; though that was a huge part of it. The other thing. 

Being able to look at your friends and have them look at you, like this, and just knowing that it was gonna be okay. That who she was, was just fine. Just a girl, hanging with people who could fly and lift cars, occasionally. 

She took the remaining chocolate chip strawberry topped Frozen Yogurt and leant against Bruce, who marked up her unusual silence as exhaustion. He put his arm around her and pulled her a little closer. Where skin touched skin, it soon got uncomfortably warm. 

But, honestly? For a little while, that was just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> My gift for ExTransient. 
> 
> I'm one of those assholes who always forget deadlines, so I wrote this the night before it was due. Literally night. Timezones saved my ass again. I hope this is still good in the morning, and most of all I hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> I love love love me some genderfluid Jane.


End file.
